Poor enforcement makes us urinate in public

Reacting to men urinating in public, if anything, is like crying hollow. Because, despite the repulsive nature of this act that has put civil-minded people off – and evoked negative reactions from foreign tourists – no concrete action has been forthcoming from the authorities.

Shockingly, many a times, the law enforcers themselves are found looking for a safe corner or a tree to pull down their flies and answer the Nature’s calls to the best of their relief.

The most prolific at this are the hapless traffic and law & order police officers and constables (refer to photo), who, even while on duty, are so weak ion resisting the urge to urinate in public, that they let go at the closest roadside wall, a debris-dumped pavement, a tree or a thick bush.

Enforcement tried, delayed… and forgotten!
While the above were the visible weaknesses in our enforcement of ban on public urination, here’s what has not worked in the backstage despite much ado made about it.

It was not that no enforcement was ever attempted. But these never saw the light of day. Lack of will, you may call it.

Former BBMP commissioner, who is now advisor to state government on urban affairs, Dr A Ravindra, had taken up the initiative in the late 1990s to prevent people from urinating in public places.

He had distributed books regarding the nuisance caused by public urination, and these were given to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials and school teachers who were made to identify people resorting to public urination and make them pay a penalty of Rs10.

It was more for humiliating the perpetrator than causing him any financial pinch, to deter him from repeating the nuisance.
The campaign was taken up seriously. BBMP officials caught hundreds of men urinating in public and penalised them on the spot.

The campaign went for about five months but was abruptly stopped due to the huge protest from the public as well as the officials.

One of the BBMP officials who was then involved in the campaign, says, “Many a times, miscreants would urinate on us when we tried to catch them in the act. Some would also deliberately show their private parts by unzipping their pants when we tried to collect fines from them. For us, the day used to begin with being forced to see men’s private parts and it was disgusting for us. So we all requested the commissioner to drop the plan.”

While the officers were embarrassed over the new rule, the public also protested over the issue, citing shortage of public toilets forcing them to urinate in the open.

The plan slowly died away with increasing number of people objecting to the act.

The BBMP later started another campaign to educate the public over the nuisance. They distributed hundreds of pamphlets among the public to make them aware of the problems caused by urinating in public places.

A similar initiative was also taken up in the early 1990s by then Bangalore City Corporation commissioner, PD Shenoy, which too had gone the same way as Ravindra’s initiative.

According to another senior BBMP official, in the 1980s, there were at least three urinals on each road in Bangalore. Giving examples, he said from Nagarthpet to Goodshed Road in Chickpet, there were more than 10 public urinals.

Similarly there were public urinals on MG Road, Brigade road, Avenue Road, to name some.

But these lands were later acquired to be replaced by huge commercial buildings.

Ironically, while the BBMP used to fine people urinating in public places, it was not able to protect its own premises – the BBMP head office -- from this public nuisance. The compound wall of BBMP headquarters and the footpath opposite Unity Building, even today, are filled with the stench of urine.

Commuters arriving by bus urinate on the compound wall next to the series of bus stops at Hudson Circle. Few fruit vendors who stand daily also sell their fruits in the same place despite the stench. Unable to bear the smell, we spray water at the spots using a separate water tanker, say BBMP officials posted at the civic agency’s head office. Lately, they have also started spraying DDT to prevent mosquitoes from proliferating at the stinking spots.

Even territorial army stepped in, but…
In August 2008, an idea was struck upon to involve volunteers from among retired Army personnel to check littering and public
urination.

Major BN Nandu Kumar, the head of the TA team in Bangalore – and the brain behind the idea – sent a team to BBMP to take up this project. BBMP liked the idea, and made provision of Rs30 lakh in its budget. The BBMP had also decided to pay Rs1.8 lakh per month to TA, which was expected to deploy a 60-member team to collect fines at the rate of Rs100 per violator.

However, after pending for eight months, the whole plan fizzled out.

Interestingly, BBMP officials blamed it on the 60-member TA team being moved to Kashmir along with Major Kumar.

BBMP officials say if the state government had approved the project immediately without dilly-dallying over the matter it could have been launched in February 2008 itself.

The officials say the groundwork for the project to begin was all in place, and widespread publicity was given to it. It was also decided to fine people up to Rs1,000 for urinating in public, allowing pets to mess public spaces or carelessly throwing garbage or litter on the roads.

Some of the main areas identified for the project were M G Road, Cubbon Road, Kempegowda Road, Cunningham Road and Commercial Street, and it entailed having litter cops in special uniforms on rounds to maintaining vigil and supported by BBMP officials.

The project also was to begin with intensive education of people and motivating them to use bins, and stop littering and urinating in public.

That’s why, today, a man urinating by the roadside is nothing out of the ordinary for the citizens.